A Sublime Golden Light
by goat dono
Summary: Jin/Yuki/Fuu. Jin's final gift to his oldest friend.


**Rating:** K+ (angst, canon character death)

****A/N**:** Written for the March 2010 Springkink prompt _Samurai Champloo, Jin/Fuu: You're carving your way, straight to the bones in your grave._

**Disclaimer:** Samurai Champloo is the property of Watanabe Shinichirō. I do not use its characters, settings and/or events for any profitable purpose.

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><p><strong>A Sublime Golden Light<strong>

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><p><em>Here are the bones of one endowed with excellent virtue and supreme intellect,<br>Humility, meditation, delight through patience and sublime fame;  
>One who continually strove for the wisdom of his enlightenment;<br>Intelligent and possessing steadfast joyous perseverance,  
>He always delighted in giving.<em>

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><p>"Do you ever feel bad about killing someone? Like you'll have bad karma or something?"<p>

"No. My life is that of one who kills. I don't feel one way or the other about it. Life is transient. We all lose it eventually."

"But, all those guys were somebody's son, or brother, or husband. Don't you care about that?"

"A samurai carries the burden of every life he takes, forever. That burden is what makes me stronger."

"But..."

"I can only be what I am, Fuu. And the state of my soul is not your concern."

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><p>"Do you know why these mountains are revered by so many people? Because it is said that you can be reborn here. Death and rebirth - everyone comes here in search of them. What about you? Are you looking for a second chance?"<p>

"Yukimaru..."

_no Yuki don't do this don't make me do this  
><em>_  
>I was wrong<em>

_I should have known your heart_  
><em>I should have had compassion<em>

_you were everything_  
><em>you were all I had<em>

_for the sake of not clinging I left you behind_

"Yukimaru..."

_believe me_  
><em>believe in me<em>

_know that my sin was brave and my suffering is eternal_

_find yourself Yuki_  
><em>take hold gain control<em>

_don't yearn to taint your sword with blood_

_I can't stand to see your pain_  
><em>I can't illuminate your darkened mind<em>

"Yukimaru..."

_I can't let you bear the burden of a taken life_

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><p>Fuu started from sleep, her dream quickly fading from memory. She could hear Jin's voice over the flow of the river, the low monotone he used when he spoke in meditation. She lay and listened to his clear, quiet recitation.<p>

_One night, without distraction,  
>I dreamed a vivid dream:<br>I saw a large and beautiful drum  
>Filling the world with golden light<br>And glowing like the sun.  
><em>

Standing, she stepped to the mouth of the cave and out into the bright moonlight. The dead boy's body, face covered with a square of torn fabric, lay near the water on a narrow silt terrace that would be deeply submerged in the spring floods. With practiced deliberation, Jin walked to the river's edge and scooped a single handful of colorful, gravelly sand from the shallows. Returning, he gently spread it over Yukimaru's body.

_For those who bear the suffering of humans,  
>For hell beings, animals and hungry ghosts,<br>May every suffering be completely dispelled  
>By the sound of this majestic drum.<em>

Handful by handful, verse by verse, Jin recited the sutra as he buried his friend. He did not acknowledge Fuu, though clearly aware of her presence. She watched and listened silently, like a witness, and she had the distinct impression that this was the role he wanted her to play.

_I shall not conceal or hide  
>Harmful actions I have done.<br>In future times I shall refrain  
>From deeds that render me full of shame.<em>

When Yuki's body had been completely hidden beneath the sand, Jin began to lift big, smooth river rocks one by one from the streambed and layer them over the mound; all the while continuing his spoken meditation.

_Through feeble birth, feeble existence,_  
><em>Feeble world and feeble volatile mind,<em>  
><em>Multitudes of physical actions,<em>  
><em>This mass of evil deeds, I confess in full.<em>

The cairn complete, Jin turned and walked along the bank to the place where Yuki had fallen. He touched his right hand, his killing hand, to the darkening blood that soaked the ground.

_May those beings who are tied to existence,  
>Tightly bound by the rope of the cyclic round,<br>Unravel their bondage with a wise hand  
>And quickly be freed from all suffering.<em>

Returning to the cairn, he picked up his friend's naked katana with his blood-smeared hand and thrust it into the mound, driving it through Yuki's buried body, and into the earth below.

_Cut the view of self existence;  
>Sever the net of afflictions;<br>Brandish the sword of knowledge;  
>Behold the abode of aggregates as empty;<br>In this way, enlightenment shall be reached._

Jin stepped once more to the river's edge and dipped his hand into the water, allowing the swirling current to wash it clean.

_O Buddha, act for me with compassion;  
>Grant me the boon of your appearance,<br>For I suffer with thirst for your sublime form._

Satisfy me with the water of your compassion.  
>You are the refuge of all beings, including the gods.<p>

His voice faded into the sound of the river and he sat still and silent on the bank. Behind him, Fuu tiptoed back to the warmth of the fire and settled down to sleep.

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><p>Drowsily, Fuu opened an eye, again awakened by the sound of quiet footsteps. She raised her head as Jin's shadowy figure passed by the dying fire and sank down against the wall of the cave, head deeply bowed. Fuu watched him for a moment, debating, before creeping over and silently slipping her arms around his neck. She felt his shoulders tremble and his breath hitch and she held him closer, pressing her lips to his smooth temple, wanting him to know that she was simply <em>there, <em>to soothe his grief and protect him in the only moment of vulnerability she'd ever seen him show.

They sat together until dawn broke, and they could hear Mugen scrabbling about carelessly on the rocks above them. Jin didn't speak as they gathered their things and climbed back up to the trail. But his eyes were soft, and his face serene, and to Fuu, that was proof enough that both he and Yukimaru had found peace.

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><p><strong>AN:**  
>excerpts from:<br>_The King of Glorious Sutras called the Exalted Sublime Golden Light_  
>Translated by Losang Dawa<br>Edited by Gyalten Mindrol


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